By Simon Gray – For most of the past two decades, there have been only two significant international fund domiciles and servicing centres in Europe, Luxembourg and Dublin. But just as new rules governing both traditional and alternative investments draw promoters’ and managers’ attention to the advantages of establishing fund vehicles within the European Union, the Mediterranean island of Malta is staking a serious claim to a share of this burgeoning market.
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By Katya Tua – Although Malta has seen its profile grow among the global financial services community particularly over the past two or three years, its fund industry has been developing for more than a decade.
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Malta’s success in attracting international fund business is mostly down to the Professional Investor Fund regime, introduced in 2000 when the Malta Financial Services Authority issued the Guide to the Establishment of Professional Investor Funds. Previously funds established in Malta had been largely aimed at the domestic retail market, but the launch of PIFs started to draw attention from international fund promoters and managers targeting sophisticated investors.
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By Laragh Cassar – Malta’s rules on the redomiciliation of investment funds have contributed to its success story as an alternative fund domicile in the European Union. Coupled with a robust yet flexible regulatory framework and a highly skilled workforce, Malta can offer fund managers added value and synergies through increased efficiencies and returns.
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By Simon Gray - Malta's efforts to put itself on the map as a fund domicile and servicing centre within the European Union have been an undoubted success. Although fund numbers and aggregate assets are still low by comparison with its main competitors within the EU, Luxembourg and Ireland, over the past three years the Mediterranean island nation has forced itself to the attention of managers and promoters examining whether investor attitudes and the new global regulatory environment make it advisable to base at least part of their fund range onshore in Europe.
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As South Africa’s leading alternative fund administrator, it was logical for the IDS Group to look to extend its services to Europe. The firm was examining the traditional options of Luxembourg and Dublin – when a meeting with Prof. Joe Bannister, head of the Malta Financial Services Authority, started the process that resulted in IDS setting up an office in Malta in the spring of 2010.
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By Anthony O'Driscoll - Apex Fund Services opened in Malta in June 2008 and the business has grown in tandem with the development of the jurisdiction as a European fund services hub. Malta’s attractiveness to international asset managers has increased particularly over the past two years with a shift in emphasis toward creating onshore funds that mirror alternative investment strategies previously mostly offered through vehicles domiciled in offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
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The political upheavals in North Africa in the first half of 2011, including the destructive civil war in Libya, have disrupted efforts to develop fund investment in the region, but over the long term industry members believe that Malta’s longstanding links with its Mediterranean neighbours can help it carve out a specialist niche as a centre both for investment in the region and for the establishment of funds by promoters based throughout the Middle East.
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By George Gregory – Malta’s appeal as a European financial services jurisdiction has been demonstrated over the past few years not only by choice of the island as a fund domicile but also by the number of fund management companies set up in the jurisdiction providing services to both locally-established and foreign funds. That trend can only be further encouraged by Malta’s new tax regime, unveiled earlier this year, aimed at highly qualified expatriates.
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